Lady Blackhawks drop three in league play

The Cheney High girls' basketball team dropped three league games last week, including a close contest with West Valley that would have all but wrapped up a No. 3 seed and home game in the upcoming Great Northern League playoffs.

The Lady Blackhawks had difficulty finding scoring opportunities, much less getting the few they had to drop, in losses to Clarkston, 46-19, Jan. 26 and league-leader East Valley, 71-27, Jan. 28. In the home regular-season finale – Senior Night – Jan. 30, Cheney rallied from a five-point halftime deficit to tie the game with West Valley at 36 heading into the fourth quarter, only to have the Eagles go on a run to take a 10-point lead and seal their 53-47 win at free throw line in the game's final minutes.

Haley Pemberton led the Lady Blackhawks in scoring with 13 points while Kristi McGourin added 12 and Aijia Loffreddi, recently called up from junior varsity, chipped in 10.

Cheney struggled offensively on the road at Clarkston and at home against the Knights, failing to achieve double-digit scoring in any of the eight quarters against the league's top-two teams. Pemberton had nine points to lead Cheney against East Valley, with Brette Draper adding eight and leading the Lady Blackhawks with another eight at Clarkston.

Cheney drops to 3-8 in GNL play, 7-12 overall, with one final league game remaining - Tuesday at Pullman (2-8, 6-12). They faced the Greyhounds a little shorthanded, having lost starting point guard Hannah Lemelin for the remainder of the season due to a stress fracture.

Head coach JT Johnson also said sophomore forward Peyton Stark broke her nose against West Valley, and while she can still shoot short jumpers, will be limited somewhat in passing options.

A win Tuesday at Pullman would cement Cheney the No. 3 playoff seed and opening-round, loser-out home game. A loss will throw the Lady Blackhawks into a three-way tie with the Greyhounds and West Valley, with the result being a No. 5 seed for Cheney and trip to Clarkston should West Valley (2-8, 5-13) beat Pullman at home Feb. 4.

"I think we can beat Clarkston," Johnson said. "But I would just as soon not face them the first night."

Once their regular season ends, Cheney will get time to work on aspects of their game they haven't been able to during the season's three-game weekly schedule. The Lady Blackhawks bye comes today (Feb. 4), giving Johnson some extra practices to work on improving things such as timing on offense and rotations on defense.

Johnson said he would also run shorter practices to keep his players legs fresh for next week's post season.

"The girls are resilient, they're working hard," he added.

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.